Strict Scrutiny

Birthright Citizenship + Bye-Bye, Pamela Jo Bondi

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Last week saw oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara, and listeners, it finally happened: a legal argument so outlandish...

SCOTUS Not Cool With Colorado Ban on Conversion Therapy

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Chiles v. Salazer, the case involving a Colorado ban on conversion therapy. Leah is joined by Shannon M...

Will SCOTUS Join the GOP War on Mail-in Ballots?

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and guest co-host Ian Bassin of Protect Democracy kick off the show by covering the latest legal news, including developments at the Pentagon an...

Absentee Ballots, Asylum, and Too Many A**holes to Count

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Kate, and Melissa preview this week’s arguments at the Court, including Watson v. Republican National Committee, a challenge over when electi...

Make America Grift Again

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa and Kate go on Corruption Watch to catch up on all the sketchy things happening in the judicial and executive branches. Then, they cove...

A Court of Drugs and Guns

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down the oral arguments in United States v. Hemani, a Second Amendment case which challenges a law prohibiting “unlaw...

S7 Ep21: The Conservative Push to Weaken Our Democracy

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

International law expert Rebecca Ingber of Cardozo Law joins Leah at the top of the show to talk about the US and Israel's war on Iran. Then, Leah we...

S7 Ep20: SCOTUS Again Takes on the 2nd Amendment—What Could Go Wrong?

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kate is joined by Friend of the Pod Steve Vladeck (One First) to break down last week’s legal news, including developments around noncompliance in ...

S7: BREAKING: SCOTUS Nixes Trump’s Tariffs

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s much-anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's tariffs. But how the opinion, dissent, and concurrences break down paints...

S7 Ep19: Is Sam Alito On His Way Out?

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The legal news just kept coming this week, and Melissa, Leah, and Kate break it all down. Could Friend of the Pod Sam Alito be retiring? Possibly! Can...

S7 Ep18: Are You There, God? It’s Me, the Constitution.

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

SCOTUS may be between argument sessions, but the legal news isn’t slowing down. Kate, Melissa, and Leah cover the latest out of Minnesota before tou...

S7 Ep17: The Illegality and Injustice of ICE’s Minnesota Occupation

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down the various legal cases arising from ICE’s occupation of Minnesota, including a bid to end DHS’s Operation Met...

Will the Court Actually Push Back Against Trump’s Unlawful Firings?

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

First, Leah and Melissa explain the legal battles around the ICE occupation in Minnesota and what might come after the killings of Renee Good and Alex...

Will SCOTUS Keep Trans Kids Out of Sports?

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Leah, and Kate kick off by discussing the functional suspension of the Constitution in Minneapolis and Trump’s targeting of Federal Reserve...

Debunking Trump’s Bullsh*t Legal Arguments for Invading Venezuela

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Kate, and Melissa preview January’s major SCOTUS cases, including disputes over trans kids' participation in team sports, a concealed-carry ba...

Can America Pull Back From the Brink of Autocracy?

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Leah kicks off the episode with repeat guest Rebecca Ingber of Cardozo Law to discuss the wild illegality–both domestic and international–of Trump...

Introducing Runaway Country: Justice Has Left the Building

29 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Alex digs into the destruction of due process and rule of law under the Trump administration. First, she hears from Judge Anam Petit, a recently fired...

Our Favorite Things, 2025

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s that time of year when Leah, Melissa, and Kate put on their influencer hats and recommend the things that made their days a little brighter in ...

SCOTUS Is About to Turbocharge Presidential Power

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Kate, and Melissa recap the oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter, a case that could nuke the administrative state as we know it by giving Trump b...

We Need To Talk About Trump’s Maritime Murders

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Melissa, and Leah are joined by Professor Rebecca Ingber of Cardozo Law to break down the blatant illegality of the administration’s murders o...

SCOTUS Greenlights Racial Gerrymandering in Texas

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this emergency episode, Leah, Melissa and Kate break down the Supreme Court’s shadow docket order allowing Texas to use racist and Republican-ske...

December Preview: SCOTUS Doubles Down on Its BS

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Leah, and Melissa kick off the show by speaking with New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin about First Choice Women’s Resource Centers ...

Boy Math, Boy Law, Man Problems

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa, and Kate dive into the raging legal battles over redistricting ahead of next year’s midterms, Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan’...

The Agonies of Brett Kavanaugh

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Leah run through the latest legal news, including updates on the SNAP benefits case, the email dump that revealed Jeffrey Epstein's deep ties...

Will SCOTUS Say No to Trump’s Tariffs?

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Live from Crooked Con in Washington, Leah, Kate, and Melissa unpack the surprisingly not-awful oral arguments for Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, w...

The Legal Battles Over Trump’s War on Blue Cities

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Leah, and Melissa dive into the legal pushback over ICE and the National Guard in Chicago and Portland, anti-marriage equality goblin Kim Davis’...

Trump’s DOJ Shakedown

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Leah dig into a very busy week of legal news as Trump wields his SCOTUS-enabled executive power in increasingly unhinged ways. They also disc...

Will the Voting Rights Act Survive SCOTUS?

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down last week’s agonizing two-and-a-half-hour oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais, a case that could see the alread...

Will SCOTUS Allow Conversion Therapy for Minors?

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa, and Kate are back in business, breaking down this term’s first week of arguments at SCOTUS, including a challenge to Colorado’s ban...

Something Wicked This Way Comes: A SCOTUS Term Preview

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Leah, and Melissa preview what fresh hell SCOTUS has in store for us this term, including challenges to the Fourteenth Amendment and the Court’...

The Trump Administration's SCOTUS Winning Streak

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah and Kate dive into the week’s legal news, explaining how SCOTUS continues to carry water for the Trump administration. They also cover an epic ...

Looking for Bright Spots in the Courts

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah is joined by guest co-host Skye Perryman, president & CEO of Democracy Forward, to discuss the week’s news, including the continued pushback on...

How SCOTUS is Making Project 2025 a Reality

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our fearless hosts continue to slog through this sh*tty shadow docket summer, covering an order from the Court okaying racial profiling by ICE officer...

The Lower Courts Punch Up

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down how the lower courts are challenging the Trump administration and expressing their frustration with SCOTUS. Then, t...

The Shadow Docket Just Won’t Quit

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The gang is back together as Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down this week’s mountain of legal news, including the Court’s greenlighting of Trump’...

The Dubious Legality of Trump's DC Takeover

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Leah recap the week's legal news, including argument calendars for the next SCOTUS term and President Trump's attempted federal takeover of W...

How the GOP is Trying to Steal the 2026 Midterms

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa and guest co-host Imani Gandy of Rewire News Group break down the week’s legal happenings, including how Texas Democrats are attempting to t...

Stacking the Bench with Creeps & Kooks

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah and guest co-host Mark Joseph Stern of Slate and the Amicus podcast run through what’s been happening in the courts this week, including distur...

Can Trump Sue His Way Out of the Epstein Mess?

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Leah break down the week’s legal happenings, including Trump’s flailing efforts to manage the Epstein fallout, the latest abomination fro...

SCOTUS Enables Government Destruction

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa and Kate run through the latest legal news, including the Court greenlighting the dismantling of the Department of Education. Then, they speak...

Hunger Games for Legal Hackery

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Katie Phang, independent journalist and trial lawyer, joins Leah to run through the week’s legal news–and there’s a lot of it! They unpack, as K...

A Term for the Rich, the Reactionaries, and the Ruthless

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With July upon us and bad decision season (mercifully) over, Leah, Kate and Melissa take a step back to recap this year’s SCOTUS term. They highligh...

SCOTUS Strengthens Conservative War on Education

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa and Kate roll up their sleeves and unpack last Friday’s huge day at the Court, starting with Mahmoud v. Taylor, the case that tested S...

SCOTUS Clears the Way for Trump’s Lawlessness

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In an emergency episode, Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down today’s radical decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., which gives this administration carte b...

SCOTUS Deals Massive Blow to Health Care Access

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this emergency episode, Melissa, Leah and Kate are joined by Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, to unpack today’s ru...

Ketanji Brown Jackson Sounds the Alarm

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

First, Leah is joined by international law expert Bec Ingber to lay out legal issues around the use of force (aka bombing Iran). Then, Leah is joined ...

SCOTUS Upholds Tennessee Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this emergency episode, Chase Strangio of the ACLU joins the pod to talk about today’s decision in United States v. Skrmetti. Then, Kate, Leah, a...

Can Trump Mobilize the Military Without California's Consent?

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Kate, and Leah can smell the fascism in the air as President Trump forces troops on California protesters. They discuss how he is (yet again)...

9-0, but Make It Complicated

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Kate and Melissa unpack this week’s raft of SCOTUS decisions, including cases on “reverse discrimination” and whether Mexico can sue Ameri...

It's Officially Bad Decision Season

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Live from Capital Turnaround in Washington, D.C., Leah, Kate, and Melissa wade right into the swamp, breaking down the (very weird, very disturbing) s...

A Blockbuster Non-Opinion and a Fascism Grab Bag

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Leah, and Kate kick the show off with a look at the Court’s 4-4 deadlock on Oklahoma’s religious charter school case. Then, it’s a romp...

Will the Courts Let Trump End Birthright Citizenship?

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

May is supposed to be the calm before June’s opinion storm in SCOTUS-land, but not in Trump’s America. Melissa, Kate, and Leah kick off the show w...

The Supreme Court’s ‘Lawless’ Era

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Drop everything and read! This week, the hosts celebrate the release of Leah’s book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, ...

Will SCOTUS Sign Off on Religious Charter Schools?

05 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is this the term when the Court says “see ya” to the Establishment Clause? Leah, Melissa and Kate consider that question in their recap of this we...

Can Religious Parents Veto Books in Public Schools?

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Leah recap oral arguments in two big cases the Supreme Court heard this week. The first is about LGBTQ+ inclusive reading materials in public...

Are Trump Administration Officials in Criminal Contempt?

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa and Kate join forces to dig through the Trump administration’s latest affronts to the law and the possibility that its officials could...

SCOTUS Lets Trump Play Word Games

14 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the Court weighed in on two cases arising out of the Trump administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport people to El Salv...

What’s the Future of Planned Parenthood?

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah and Kate recap recent opinions and arguments from the Supreme Court, including cases about tax exemptions for religious organizations and the fut...

Can Elon Musk Buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race? (With Jon Lovett)

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Lovett joins Leah and Melissa to talk about what’s at stake in this week’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election and what it was like campaigning f...

Deportations and the Death of Due Process

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After a deep dive on the Trump administration’s horrifying misuse of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people from the US without due process, Kate an...

How to Lose a Democracy in 10 Laws (with Elie Mystal)

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Kate, and Melissa are joined this week by Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, whose new book is Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Ar...

The Conservative Push to Sue the Media Into Oblivion

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After covering the latest goings-on in Trumpland, Melissa and Kate turn to this week’s SCOTUS arguments and opinions, touching on the Court’s deci...

Pod Save the Separation of Powers

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa, and Kate once again wade through the latest malevolence from the Trump White House in a segment they’re now calling “Pod Save the S...

The Atextual & Illegal Attack on Birthright Citizenship

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Leah, and Kate are joined by Professor Kate Masur of Northwestern to talk about just how illegal and off-the-wall Trump’s executive order o...

Yes, We’re in a Constitutional Crisis

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Live from Fordham Law, Leah, Melissa, and Kate stay on the Trump 2.0 chaos beat. They cover the continued ransacking of the federal government by the ...

DOGE Runs Amok & Originalism’s Ahistoricism

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the ladies react to the ransacking of the federal government by Elon Musk and his fleet of DOGE dorks. Then, Kate and Leah speak with Jonat...

The Lawlessness, Chaos, & Cruelty of Trump 2.0

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Kate, and Leah continue to assess the fallout from the second Trump administration, including his blatant disregard of the law in firing many...

Trump’s Onslaught of Executive Orders

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Post-inauguration, the Trump administration is wasting no time issuing a flurry of heinous executive orders. Melissa, Kate, and Leah walk through them...

SCOTUS's Porn Problem

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa and Kate cover some breaking news, including Biden’s last-minute declaration that the Equal Rights Amendment is the law of the land. T...

SCOTUS Unanimously Upholds TikTok Ban

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the first emergency episode of 2025, Kate, Leah and Melissa break down the Court’s unanimous decision to uphold the upcoming TikTok ban in the Un...

Is TikTok’s Time Up?

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa & Kate dive headfirst into an already busy 2025 by detailing the Republican attempt to steal a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, lookin...

The Promise and Perils of Presidential Power

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On the fourth anniversary of January 6th, Leah, Melissa & Kate dive deep on presidential power: how the presidency became what it is today, transition...

Our Favorite Things, 2024

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the spirit of the holidays, Leah, Kate & Melissa force themselves to say something nice about each Supreme Court Justice. Yes, all of them. Then th...

Jingle Bells, the Fifth Circuit Is Hell

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa, and Kate cover some breaking news before recapping last week’s SCOTUS arguments. They also touch on some lower-court opinions and cou...

Leave Trans Kids Alone You Absolute Freaks (with Chase Strangio)

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Melissa, and Leah break down United States v. Skrmetti, the Court’s big case on gender-affirming care for minors, with the ACLU’s Chase Stra...

Gender-Affirming Care in the Court’s Crosshairs

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After touching on some shenanigans from the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention and Chuck Schumer’s lousy deal on judicial appointmen...

How Will Trump 2.0 Embolden SCOTUS to Gut the Law?

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Melissa comb through the latest from the incoming Trump administration, including the subbing in of Pam Bondi for Matt Gaetz for Attorney Gen...

Trump’s Parade of Clowns, Idiots, and Creeps

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa, and Kate wade through more election fallout, including President-elect Trump’s proposed use of recess appointments to jam his cabinet...

Making Sense of the Election and What It Means for the Court

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After processing the election and thinking through what it means for the future of the Supreme Court, Kate and Leah dig into a Voting Rights Act case ...

Election Anxiety: How the Outcome Could Affect SCOTUS’s Docket

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After diving deep on a wild story about Justice Alito palling around with a German princess, Melissa, Kate, and Leah take a look at pending SCOTUS cas...

Fifth Circuit Election Madness, a Post-Mortem on Roe, & the War on Drugs

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After an emergency intro looking at the Fifth Circuit’s bonkers mail-in ballot decision, the ladies do a deep dive on two books. First, they speak w...

SCOTUS’s Endless Beef with the EPA

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Kate, and Leah recap October at the Supreme Court, diving into the sewage-infested waters of City and County of San Francisco v. Environmenta...

"Ghost Guns" are Guns (Duh)

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After covering some breaking news, Kate, Melissa and Leah recap last week's oral arguments at the Supreme Court, including cases about civil rights, g...

An Unsealed Brief, Ghost Guns, & Antitrust Law as Social Justice

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa, and Kate kick off with a look at Jack Smith’s unsealed brief on Trump’s election interference case before digging into some cases t...

Steel Yourself for a New SCOTUS Term

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa, Leah and Kate break down some excellent recent SCOTUS reporting and look ahead to what fresh hell the Roberts Court has in store for us in it...

No Choice but to Stan: A Deep Dive on Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pamela Karlan, experienced advocate and co-director of Stanford’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, joins Kate and Leah to break down just how except...

The Battle for Native Rights & Comstock: The Zombie Law From Hell

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Leah speak with Rebecca Nagle, author of By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land about the battlefield th...

Reform, Repression, & Reproductive Rights (Live from Texas!)

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week Kate and Melissa are live from the Texas Tribune Festival with a couple of dream guests. First, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin joins to d...

Shining a Light on State Supreme Court Races

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this week’s three-part episode, we take a look at state supreme courts and why this year’s elections are so important. First, Kate and Emily Pa...

Project 2025 (cont.): The Fascist Plan to Plunder the Government

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To wrap up our series on Project 2025, Kate, Leah and Melissa are joined by NYU's Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini To The Present to s...

Project 2025 (cont.): How to Create a Geopolitical Hellscape & Back to School With Meredith Marks

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Rhodes of Crooked's Pod Save the World joins Leah and Kate to break down Project 2025's truly frightening foreign policy goals. Then, Leah and Mel...

State of the Uterus: Two Years After the End of Roe

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In what has become a depressing tradition, it's time for our annual look at the hell that SCOTUS unleashed with Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organi...

Project 2025 (cont.): DEI for Men With Terrible Personalities

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Lovett joins Melissa and Leah to climb inside the mind of one of Project 2025’s biggest boosters: J.D. Vance. It’s nasty in there! Then, Leah ...

Project 2025: 900 Pages and 100% Deranged

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leah and Melissa introduce a new series on Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s deranged instruction manual for taking away all of our rights and...

The Hubris and Hackery of Aileen Cannon

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Leah attempt to wrap their heads around Aileen Cannon’s bonkers decision on the Trump classified documents case. Then, Leah talks with Josi...

We Read Josh Hawley's Book So You Don't Have To

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Josh Hawley's book/polemic on the trials and tribulations of American men also gives us a window into the dark worldview that informs his politics-- s...

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Term

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kate, Melissa, and Leah steel themselves to look back on a truly terrible term for the ages. From SCOTUS’s determined effort to hollow out the admin...

SCOTUS Hands Trump Presidential Immunity

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the last decision day of the year, and SCOTUS goes out with a bang. Kate, Leah, and Melissa unpack the frankly terrifying decision granting Tru...

The Supreme Court Makes Its Biggest Power Grab in a Generation

29 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leah, Melissa and Kate try to wrap their heads around SCOTUS throwing away 40 years of precedent that allowed federal agencies (and the experts who wo...

SCOTUS Dodges the Question of Emergency Abortions

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After accidentally uploading the decision in the EMTALA case, the Supreme Court released it for real today. Leah is joined by Fatima Goss-Graves, Chri...